


Lean on Me

by Edonohana



Category: Marvel 616, New Mutants, X-Men (Comicverse)
Genre: Flying Horses, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-19
Updated: 2019-01-19
Packaged: 2019-10-12 12:00:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17467142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Edonohana/pseuds/Edonohana
Summary: Dani finds comfort when she needs it the most.





	Lean on Me

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Shadowcat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadowcat/gifts).



The night after a brutal battle against yet another group of supervillains, Dani lay in bed, exhausted but unable to sleep. She had been bruised and battered, but not seriously, and had refused painkillers, preferring to practice endurance. Now, as she turned on to her side (bruised ribs), then her belly (scraped knees), and finally her back (swollen lump on the back of her head), she regretted that decision. 

Dani got up. Still in her pajamas, she padded silently through the dark mansion. No lights shone from beneath anyone’s doors, and the school felt close and heavy with sleep. She longed for fresh, cool air on her skin. 

But when she opened the door and stepped outside, the winter chill bit into her cuts and made her bones ache. She shivered, wrapping her arms around her chest. A warrior not only endured, but stood tall and proud. She couldn’t let herself show weakness, much less give in to it. She had to be the strong shoulder for others to lean on. But sometimes her own strength felt like a burden. Where was the shoulder on which she could lay down her own weary head?

A gust of wind scattered the dry leaves. She heard a soft whinny from an unlikely direction. Brightwind, her beloved winged stallion, was descending from the sky. He shone bright and white as the moon, glowing against the black, as he flew down to her. His hooves barely dented the earth as he landed as softly as one of his own feathers.

“I didn’t call you,” Dani said, puzzled. She had to whistle to summon him down from the sky. 

Brightwind huffed out a warm breath and nuzzled her. His coat was soft as velvet against her cheek. Through their bond as Valkyrie and mount, she sensed his emotions: concern, the desire to comfort, and love.

“Oh,” Dani whispered. “You knew I needed you, even though I didn’t know it myself.”

The majestic stallion lowered his head, and she threw her arms around his neck. His mane flowed over her hands like the finest silk. She breathed in his scent of hay and mist and wide open spaces. He twitched his wings forward so they covered her like a feather cloak, light and soft and warm. Her aches and pains and weariness eased as she took the comfort he had to offer, and leaned on him.


End file.
